Uber

Uber is a place where you can learn and grow a tremendous amount in a short period of time. They have some of the best engineers I've worked with and a very low-friction environment for getting things done. Some colleagues complain about some of the extra process and bureaucracy, but relative to 99% of all other organizations this size, it really is a first-world problem. During my tenure here, I was blown away by the sheer scale of the software and the systems used to power it from behind the curtains. I was given the opportunity to do Big Data and work on some of the components of their micro-service architecture. Having colleagues who were as capable and competent didn't hurt.

Uber is a very dynamic organization, and they still move fast. They have been working hard to simplify complexity so teams can move even faster without sacrificing quality. In the time I was there, I was able to successfully ship several major features globally and establish myself quickly on the team. Never a boring moment.

Uber's recruiting process and talent management is broken. Having said all the above, if you join Uber in the wrong role, forget about getting this addressed in a timely or even fair manner. You'll pretty much get the standard management runaround without any promises.

In my case, I applied for a specific role and was offered a different role, which I was told happens quite frequently. After a year to 18 months, I would be considered for the new role I originally applied for. Trusting that they knew the challenges better than I did, I decided to give it a chance, but upon joining, I realized that the role offered was not going to be what I thought it was.

Speaking with senior and executive leadership did not lead to any substantive steps being taken to expedite the process or adjust my responsibilities. I am a very senior individual, and this was a very hard situation to be in, given I had left a high-caliber organization to take on this opportunity.

I chalk this up to a broken recruiting process that fails to properly assess a candidate's strengths, particularly if they come from an industry outside of tech, and implicit interviewer bias. Talent management is also quite inflexible. Having raised my concerns multiple times with management, there were no attempts to come up with even a compromise solution that would have modified my role to provide some of the responsibilities I sought.

Don't bait and switch candidates. It leads to a lot less headaches later on.

Improve how you manage talent. Many senior individuals join Uber to experience growth in their career, not repeat their last job with a different tech stack.

Recognize that you don't need someone to have 100% of the job requirements. There are parts they can learn on the job.

Finally, when someone tells you they want to move their career in a particular direction, the only response is that you will support it. It's pretty insulting and takes away that person's dignity when you don't respect their wishes. Failing to provide any explanation leaves the candidate to assume an unfair and arbitrary process.